Hard questions and potential approaches to facing the issue of torture as a war crime and violation of fundamental human rights. Shahid Buttar digs in and holds the light up to the executives responsible in the Bush Administration, and other unfinished business regarding 9-11 and National Security.
Obama has had a hard time finding a prospective CIA chief who isn't tainted by either involvement in Bush's torture regime or who backed Bush's illicit wiretapping. He was compelled to reject California Congressmember Jane Harman because of her approval of the latter.However, the person he did approve, Leon Panetta, has roused the ire
Though never charged with a crime, Muhammad Saad Iqbal spent six years in American custody, during which he says he was secretly taken to Egypt and tortured.
Supposedly Panetta is against torture, but hes “widely criticized for harsh interrogation of suspects”? Whats going on here? Maybe the CIA will resort to importing their cocaine on normal planes instead of the rendition torture planes filled with 3.3 tons of cocaine like the one that crashed last year in Mexico with the drugs still on it.
Beginning in 2002, Nancy Pelosi and other key Democrats (as well as Republicans) on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees were thoroughly, and repeatedly, briefed on the CIA's covert antiterror interrogation programs.They did nothing to stop such activities, when they weren't fully sanctioning them.
President-elect Barack Obama has selected Leon E. Panetta, the former congressman and White House chief of staff, to take over the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization that Mr. Obama criticized during the campaign for using interrogation methods he decried as torture, Democratic officials said Monday.
Some Democrats are questioning why president elect Barack Obama would appoint Leon Panetta, who is known as a budget expert, to head up the CIA. Part of the answer can be found in Panetta’s opposition to the torture of detainees.
The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey (vocals) and Johnny Marr (guitar), the band also included Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (drums). Critics have called them one of the most important alternative rock bands to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s, and the group has had major influence on subsequent artists. Morrissey's lovelorn tales of alienation found an audience amongst youth culture bored by the ubiquitous synthesizer-pop bands of the early 1980s, while Marr's complex melodies helped return guitar-based music to popularity.
The group were signed to the independent record label Rough Trade Records, for whom they released four studio albums and several compilations, as well as numerous non-LP singles. Although they had limited commercial success outside the UK while they were still together, and never released a single that charted higher than number 10 in their home country, The Smiths won a growing following, and remain cult and commercial favourites. The band broke up in 1987 amid disagreements between Morrissey and Marr and have turned down several offers to reform since then.
History
Formation and early singles
The Smiths were formed in early 1982 by Steven Patrick Morrissey, an unemployed writer who was a big fan of the New York Dolls and briefly fronted punk rock band The Nosebleeds; and John Maher, a guitarist and songwriter. Maher changed his name to Johnny Marr to avoid confusion with the Buzzcocks drummer, and Morrissey performed solely under his surname. Marr had previously been in the band Freak Party along with former Patrol drummer Simon Wolstencroft and bassist Andy Rourke, and Marr and Rourke had previously worked together in The Paris Valentinos along with actor Kevin Kennedy.. After recording several demo tapes with Wolstencroft (later of The Fall) on drums, Morrissey and Marr recruited drummer Mike Joyce in the autumn of 1982. Joyce had formerly been a member of punk bands The Hoax and Victim. As well, they added bass player Dale Hibbert, who also provided the group with demo recording facilities at the studio where he worked as a factotum. However, after two gigs, Marr's friend Andy Rourke replaced Hibbert on bass, because neither Hibbert's bass playing nor his personality fit in with the group.
The band picked their name in part as a reaction against names used by popular synthpop bands of the early 1980s, such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Spandau Ballet, because they considered these names fancy and pompous. In a 1984 interview Morrissey stated that he chose the name The Smiths "...because it was the most ordinary name" and because he thought that it was "...time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces." Signing to indie label Rough Trade Records, they released their first single, "Hand in Glove", in May 1983. The record was championed by DJ John Peel, as were all of their later singles, but failed to chart. The follow-up singles "This Charming Man" and "What Difference Does It Make?" fared better when they reached numbers 25 and 12 respectively on the UK Singles Chart. Aided by praise from the music press and a series of studio sessions for John Peel and David Jensen at BBC Radio 1, The Smiths began to acquire a dedicated fan base.
The Smiths
In February 1984, the group released their debut album The Smiths , which reached number two on the UK Albums Chart. Both "Reel Around the Fountain" and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" met with controversy, supposedly being suggestive of paedophilia. In addition, "Suffer Little Children" caused an uproar after the grandfather of one of the children murdered in the notorious Moors murders heard it on a pub jukebox, and at first thought that the band was trying to commercialise the murders. After meeting with Morrissey, he accepted that the song was a sincere exploration of the impact of the murders. Morrissey subsequently established a friendship with Ann West, the mother of victim Lesley Ann Downey, who is mentioned by name in the song.
In 1984, the band released several singles not taken from the album: "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" (the band's first UK top-ten hit) and "William, It Was Really Nothing" (which featured "How Soon Is Now?" as a B-side). The year ended with the compilation album Hatful of Hollow . This collected singles, B-sides and the versions of songs that had been recorded throughout the previous year for the Peel and Jensen shows.
Meat Is Murder
Early in 1985 the band released their second album, Meat Is Murder . This album was more strident and political than its predecessor, including the pro-vegetarian title track (Morrissey forbade the rest of the group from being photographed eating meat), the light-hearted republicanism of "Nowhere Fast", and the anti-corporal punishment "The Headmaster Ritual" and "Barbarism Begins at Home". The band had also grown more adventurous musically, with Marr adding rockabilly riffs to "Rusholme Ruffians" and Rourke playing a funk bass solo on "Barbarism Begins at Home". The album was preceded by the re-release of the B-side "How Soon is Now?" as a single, and although that song was not on the original LP, it has been added to subsequent releases. Meat Is Murder was the band's only album (barring compilations) to reach number one in the UK charts.
Morrissey brought a political stance to many of his interviews, courting further controversy. Among his targets were the Thatcher government, the monarchy and the famine relief project Band Aid. Morrissey famously quipped of the latter, "One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England." The subsequent single-only release "Shakespeare's Sister" reached number 26 on the UK Singles Chart, although the only single taken from the album, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", was less successful barely making the top 50.
The Queen Is Dead
During 1985 the band completed lengthy tours of the UK and the US while recording the next studio record, The Queen Is Dead . The album was released in June 1986, shortly after the single "Bigmouth Strikes Again". The single again featured Marr's strident acoustic guitar rhythms and lead melody guitar lines with wide leaps. The record reached number two in the UK charts, using a mixture of mordant bleakness (e.g. "Never Had No One Ever", which seemed to play up to stereotypes of the band), dry humour (e.g. "Frankly, Mr. Shankly", allegedly a message to Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis disguised as a letter of resignation from a worker to his superior), and synthesis of both, such as in "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" and "Cemetry Gates".
However, all was not well within the group. A legal dispute with Rough Trade had delayed the album by almost seven months (it had been completed in November 1985), and Marr was beginning to feel the stress of the band's exhausting touring and recording schedule. He later told NME , "'Worse for wear' wasn't the half of it: I was extremely ill. By the time the tour actually finished it was all getting a little bit... dangerous. I was just drinking more than I could handle." Meanwhile, Rourke was fired from the band in early 1986 due to his use of heroin. He received notice of his dismissal via a Post-it note stuck to the windshield of his car. It read, "Andy – you have left The Smiths. Goodbye and good luck, Morrissey." Rourke was temporarily replaced on bass by Craig Gannon (formerly a member of Scottish New Wave band Aztec Camera), but he was reinstated after only a fortnight. Gannon stayed in the band, switching to rhythm guitar. This five-piece recorded the singles "Panic" and "Ask" (with Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals) which reached numbers 11 and 14 respectively on the UK Singles Chart, and toured the UK. After the tour ended in October 1986, Gannon left the band.
The group had become frustrated with Rough Trade and sought a record deal with a major label. Marr told NME in early 1987, ""Every single label came to see us. It was small-talk, bribes, the whole number. I really enjoyed it." The band ultimately signed with EMI, which drew criticism from their fanbase.
Strangeways, Here We Come and breakup
In early 1987 the single "Shoplifters of the World Unite" was released and reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. It was followed by a second compilation, The World Won't Listen – the title was Morrissey's comment on his frustration with the band's lack of mainstream recognition, although the album reached number two in the charts – and the single "Sheila Take a Bow", the band's second (and last during the band's lifetime) UK top-10 hit. Another compilation, Louder Than Bombs , was intended for the overseas market and covered much the same material as The World Won't Listen , with the addition of "Sheila Take a Bow" and material from Hatful of Hollow , as that compilation was yet to be released in the U.S.
Despite their continued success, personal differences within the band – including the increasingly strained relationship between Morrissey and Marr – saw them on the verge of splitting. In July 1987, Marr left the group, and auditions to find a replacement for him proved fruitless. By the time the group's fourth album Strangeways, Here We Come was released in Sep
Torture Discussed Among Religious Leaders, Obama Administration
A diverse group of religious leaders from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) met with Obama Administration officials today to discuss the possibility of ...
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